I love wedding favors as much as the next person. I'm touched by the effort the couple spends on picking out the favor they feel symbolizes them. Sometimes favors are whimsical, practical, edible, or charitable. I love them all. They're fabulous, for the moment. A month, or a year or two later, the favors are sitting in a box collecting dust. Sadly, they have to go. I feel a touch of guilt, but at the end of it all, not really. I've been pretty good about favors- as a couple, JC and I only take one, even though we may be entitled to two. 

The opposite are people who take more than they're allocated. With us forfeiting our second favor, that gives the opportunity for others to pick it up. That's fine. And I know that there are more people out there who don't take favors with them at all. And those people contribute to the hoarders. At my wedding, we lost a box of favors- and at the end of the night, we only had 1 wedding favor. We had salt and pepper shakers in different colors, and I was a bit bummed that we didn't have more. Later, upon visiting relatives, we found a stockpile of our wedding favors. They gave a few back, so we'd have some momentos of our wedding. 

At another, we found a whole conga line of our favors in someone's cabinet. Very cute! But makes me wonder- after a while, won't that become clutter? And if you multiply it by the countless weddings that a person goes to, won't that be a ridiculous pile of chopsticks, notepads, pillows, keychains... etc?

I found a seashell in a drawer today. I have no idea where it came from. Anything I keep has to be worth something to me- and it breaks down to three factors: Sentimental, functional, or edible. No idea where it came from, so it's not sentimental. It's a seashell- so real functional value. And unless I come down with pica (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pica_(disorder), there's no edible value.

What do you do with your favors?

The older you get, the more complicated life gets. You undertake more activities, and you find our more is outside your control. The levels of frustration mount, till you're on the verge of violently lashing out to release all the disappointment. At some point, you get control of yourself, and keep pushing forward. Throwing adult sized tantrums doesn't help anything. I got lemons that just squirted me in the eye. Fuck the lemonade, i need the vodka for the lemondrop shots.

I've spent the last three or four days toggling between anger and stress. For a long time, I avoided talking to anyone about my emotional state- as I was still trying to determine if it was just hormonal residue of being a woman. Nope- thoughts and emotions still lingering... which means that there's salt to this. I've putted about, and juggled work and family. I do an okay job, but my stress is an indicator that the secret sauce to happiness isn't quite right. something is off... and real off. I pushed through the greater part of the day in a less than productive manner, as these pesky emotions were still tugging away at me. 

I fought against calling a friend, since just venting to someone isn't going to change matters. I wasn't quite in the mood to air my dirty laundry- I guess privacy matters more when you're older. I went for a walk, watched meaningless TV, ate junkfood, and adopted a new fitness program to elevate my mood. Although, adopt might be too strong of a word- since I haven't done anything different with my schedule yet. So, day four-ish came the phonecall. I think i got the right person- I got a good plan of action out of the call, which now puts me in a much better mood.

Sometimes you do need a friend to talk to.